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Before we get to the running backs, here are a few responses to Monday’s posts.

Stillpan4gold had an interesting read on the quarterback assessment when he wrote about expectations. Alex Smith was looked upon as coming from the same lineage of Montana, Young even Garcia. The team even tried to structure an advertising campaign around it until realizing the pressure the organization was heaping on Smith. It’s quite possible Smith will never succeed here, because expectations are so high. He might have to go somewhere else.

Bionic3 summarized the quarterback assessment post by saying that Smith was equal to Rob Johnson and Shaun Hill was equal to Jeff Garcia. Smith moves much better than Johnson and also throws the ball away better. If Smith had stayed healthy, I don’t think the 49ers would have given up 55 sacks last season, because he would have avoided many of them. When he started every game in 2006, no quarterback in the league threw the ball away more than he did.

At the end of OTA’s, I was talking to a defensive player, who actually compared Smith to Garcia, because Garcia also struggled with throwing a pass before a receiver broke. But he said Garcia succeeded with toughness and the ability to run around and make plays on his own. Smith has that ability, but hasn’t used it yet for whatever reason.

RUNNING BACK ASSESSMENT – FRANK GORE

Last season, running back Frank Gore added to the giddiness that pervaded the team. After racing to a team record 1,675 yards rushing, Gore predicted he’d top 2,000 yards. Coach Mike Nolan tempered Gore’s goal by saying he might not get enough carries. In fact, the days of 2,000-yard rushing seasons might be over with coaches finally convinced that they can’t overload their running backs.

While Gore was poised for 2,000 he wound up with 1,102. Many factors contributed to this: He sprained his ankle early on, he lost his mother during the season and then good friend Sean Taylor, and the offensive line didn’t block as well. But, there’s another factor, no one talks about and that will be key for the upcoming season – the score.

When Gore rushed for 1,675 yards, he did so on 312 carries. Last season he got 260 carries. Granted he missed a game with the ankle, but the main reason for the dip in opportunity was the 49ers were trying to catch up in lopsided games, eliminating the running game altogether.

Here’s a look Gore’s carries in blow outs:

Game 3: Pittsburgh 37-16, 14 carries by Gore

Game 4: Seattle 23-3, 16 carries

Game 6: NY Giants 33-15, 14 carries

Game 7: New Orleans 31-10, 12 carries

Game 9: Seattle 23-0, 13 carries

Game 12: Carolina 31-14, 12 carries

Game 13: Minnesota 27-7, 16 carries

That’s seven games, when the 49ers couldn’t get Gore needed touches. The goal this year is 25 touches a game with roughly 20 carries and five receptions. But that won’t happen unless the 49ers are in more games. If they played more competitively last year and Gore carried the ball the same amount as ’06, he would have finished with 1,321 yards at his average last year of 4.2 yards a carry. A rhythm runner, Gore’s yards per carry probably would have gone up because he gets better in the latter parts of games and seasons. He might have been in the 1,400 or 1,450 range.

So offensive coordinator Mike Martz’s idea of Gore driving the offensive bus will only happen if the team avoids last year’s slow starts.

Gore is also likely to be better in the upcoming season. The impact last year of the loss of his mother, Liz, had to be huge. She was a remarkable person, and Gore talked to her nearly everyday. A drug user at one time, once her family started falling apart, she stopped using drugs abruptly and started taking in her wayward brothers and sisters in her one-bedroom apartment in Miami. She became the family matriarch.

She also saved her son by getting Frank the learning help he required for his rather severe dyslexia. Her assistance, plus Frank’s unconquerable determination to meet the minimum requirement on the SAT, got him into the University of Miami and eventually launched his NFL career.

The sprained ankle also seemed to prevent him from cutting all the way back against the grain on his gap runs. Typically those plays give the runner three options – follow your blocker, cut back to the middle, or cut all the way to the other side of the play. Gore rarely seemed to take the third option, particularly right after his ankle sprain.

Fundamentally, the running game should improve. Martz will adopt more motion in the formations and use plenty of misdirection, just as Norv Turner did when Gore exploded for the 1,675.

Martz also realizes that without question, Gore is his best player. While Martz’s career so far has been dominated by the pass, the logic of using the talent available to him should supersede his passing inclination.

Also, Martz might install Gore as a receiver often. Running backs were rarely primary receivers last year, and that is likely to change.

DESHAUN FOSTER

Foster and Gore share similarities. Gore’s career nearly ended in college with two serious knee injuries, and after his rookie season, he needed dual shoulder surgeries. Three of Foster’s first four seasons were interrupted by microfracture knee surgery, a broken collarbone and a cracked fibula. Both are similarly sized (Gore 5-9, 223 and Foster 6-0, 222) and unfortunately, both fumble – eight each in the last two years.

In fact, I think they are too similar. The 49ers were better suited with the combination of Maurice Hicks and Michael Robinson as backups. Hicks was a quick, darting runner and the best receiver out of the backfield. What Robinson, the former quarterback and wide receiver, lacks in running instincts he makes up with power and smarts. Robinson remains, but Hicks signed a free-agent deal in Minnesota.

The signing of Foster also keeps Thomas Clayton buried on the depth chart. The seventh-round pick from last year has promise.

Nevertheless, the running backs might be the deepest and best area of the team.